A Step in the Right Direction for the Church

This is what we should have been doing since the eighties.

My time this weekend

I've been writing lots of papers as you may or may not know, and that is how I spent this last weekend. I did however get to attend Christ the King Bellingham so that I could work on a paper for my worship studies class. This paper will tell whether CTK is a pedagogical church or revivalist church, or does it deal with the mind or the heart.
I loved going to this church, because my friend/mentor/hero leads there, and seeing the way that he leads the congregation is a beautiful thing. He is able to capture and direct the attention of the congregation deeper than the singing of the songs, but more so draw unconciously attention to the meaning of the songs. He also started the service with a very simple greeting saying that we are worshipping our God with song which is just one of many ways to worship this God that is so worthy of praise. I'll be honest, I'm going to steal that because I truly believe that people need to hear and know this when they are worshipping through song. It was very refreshing to be led in worship rather than lead. Thank you sam

ron

listening to: Buckethead "Colma". A guitar prodigy who toured with Axl (they were NOT Guns and Roses) on his last tour. He plays with a white mask on (like the guy from the Halloween movies)and a KFC bucket on his head - need I say more?

And Challenging for Nerd of the Year is...

Nerd of the Year Contender

Negative Christians

At Trinity Western University, I am a Christianity and Culture major, which looks at Christianity and its history and theology. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the more I learn, the more I question about my place in the church and though I question, I've met people who are more extreme than I am. My fellow C & C majors wonder the same as me, but they threaten to leave the protestant church and instead move to the orthodox church. This used to be attractive to me, until I came to this thought: the church is the bride of Christ, and the we are basically calling the bride all of the names and thoughts that we have of it (i.e. a whore). When we call the church these names, the groom is going to find out and punch us in the face. Martin Luther quote from Monkey's blog: the church is a whore, but I love her. Did Luther get punched in the face?

If we are so negative and so quick to leave the church, how will it ever find out what Jesus intended for it to be in the first place.

ron

listening to: Christmas mix - Christina Aguilera, Neil Diamond, Greg Otterholt, Adam Sandler, Tracy CHapman, and many others.

Worship Conference

This past weekend, I was given the opportunity to attend a Worship leaders conference down in Kirkland with other worhship leaders from our church. Here are my likes and dislikes:

Likes:
I was able to get to know people that I serve with a little better. I was able to learn different and new approaches to the guitar. I saw music done in different styles and with different approaches. I got out of town for the weekend. I saw favorite artists such as Lincoln Brewster, Chris Tomlin, and Matt Redman. The classes I took were very informative, and well taught by professional musicians and teachers.

Dislikes:
Wherein lies the difference between the Worship set and Christian Concert? I found myself waiting to hear my favorite leaders to play their hits. I watched more than "worshipped". Though I got to see them play, I left in the middle of their...set? I don't think that I was the only one who thought this - I hope not - because it was aggravating to hear people say, "I love this song". I'm not self righteous and I'm not THE worship leader either. In fact, throughout this conference, I fell into the trap of wishing I could show some of my chops to people. When you stick a bunch of musicians in a room together, there is no breathing room because our heads swell up and fill teh room itself. It is a sad thing really, because as leaders our humility should be prevalant, but even during the musical worship sets you hear it. When the leader is singing, all that you can hear throughout the congregation are the harmonies of the song and no melody.

oh well, my stank still stinks like everybody else.

ron
Listening to: the new David Crowder Band CD. I love his music because he sounds like David Crowder and not compared to any other people (Secular or Not). Favorite track is the remake of Hank Williams/Johnny Cash's "I Saw the Light" and "Oh God, Where are You Now? (In Pickerel Lake? Pidgeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?)"

Is This a Joke?

Really quick add to the last-
cruising around and found this job description for an "Extreme Worship Pastor" in a Pomo/GenX church. Read on and be baffled or amazed or just plain filled with laughter.


Job Description:
Main Event Church is seeking an exceptional leader to be our Pastor of Extreme Worship Arts. We believe the right person will be a unique fit for for such a time as this.

This person serve under the Senior Pastor, and will oversee all areas of worship. Candidates must embrace the Senior Pastor’s vision of aligning all people of all denominations under the same vision. The person must also meet these requirements:

Ability to infuse the TULIP doctrine in all worship sets

Postmodern, Visionary, Missional leader capable of creating an ethos and apostolitic movement

Willing to find some songs written from a premillenial dispensationalist theological tradition

Desires to develop an emerging handbell choir

Some snake handling may be appropriate (for our believers service only)

Agree that the Lord is to be worshiped through magnificent attire and appropriate versions of the Bible

Demonstrate proof of a second blessing... Tongue speaking in various accents is a major plus as we are a multicultural church.

Exegetically establish a movement of fluidity in the Extreme Worship Ministry

We realize that many of these requirements are personal preferences and not biblical mandates. Therefore, each candidate must be aligned with roughly 3/4 of all our requirements.

God Bless America and Nobody Else!

I'm reading, "the american Jesus" by Steven Prothero. A recommended read to any american who believes that we are the chosen nation...we are aren't we? This book gives a history of how we came to worship Jesus instead of God the father like the New World Puritans who "founded" america. It is such an interesting thought how our belief in Jesus is so different than that of the founding fathers of the good ol' US of A. According to Prothero, we began distorting the face of Jesus and his agenda when Jefferson took a razor and glue to the gospels to build the "Jefferson Bible" and give us what he feels are teh essentials of the Gospels. Only in America....Only in America.

ron

Listening to: Matisyahu-Shake off the Dust...Arise. This is a Hassidic Jew who mixes his chants and beliefs with Dancehall Reggae music. Definitely worth a shake of the tuchas.

Busy, Busy, Busy

This past weekend I was up in Beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia on saturday night and sunday morning. It was really quick, but painful. I was up to participate in a liturgical service where I helped lead some of teh embodied prayer or praying with the whole self. Really what I'm doing is churching up the phrase "interpretive dance". Yes, that's right, I was doing a little bit of interpretive dancing this weekend. Here's a question for you: What has two thumbs and hates interpretive dance? Answer: this guy right here.
It was an interesting night and really cool in some parts. The worship music was done by a Jazz Combo and all that we did that night, Cynthia and I experienced when we went to an Anglican Church service at St. Johns (shaugnessy). It was a really neat experience in a beautiful church. If you are ever in the area, really you should check it out because it was just an over all different experience. See, I come from an adrenaline driven church experience, so tradition is something taht I don't have a lot of experience in. I really enjoyed it, and took communion from a Community Cup- that was different. It was real wine too. I'm not of a fan of wine, so it made me think a little differently of actually ingesting the blood of Christ as a bitter experience and the way that Jesus died.
This next weekend I get to go to the Christian Music Summit and learn about worship leading, guitar playing, etc.. Sometimes I am very saddened by these things, because they offer classes like, "How to have a Cool Choir" - no joke, this is an actual class - and it makes me embarrassed. Some of the peole who are at this thing are some of the bigger names in Christian music such as Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin...it makes me wonder what they think of classes like this.

ron

Listening to: Right now I love this guy named Monte Montgomery, an acoustic player from Austin Texas. Also I listen to Pantera while running.

...Somebody Kill Me Please!!!

In the next month I will be writing paper after paper after paper...after paper. I didn't realize I would have to waste this many trees. Here is my schedule of Papers:

A paper on Jonah-Looking at the Fish as a symbol of Hell, but it is a Hell that God gave to Jonah out of his grace. 6 Pages Due November 2

A paper on Jesus in the image of man. 10 pages Due November 17

A paper on the Jefferson Bible and his deist agenda. 10 pages due November 29

A paper on the Desert Fathers in the early church. 10 pages due December 6

A paper on the Architecture of the medieval church in worship 10 pages Due December 5

A paper due on an Old testament Theme that I haven't even begin to think about. 6 Pages due on December 7.

Also, a couple of 1-3 pagers detailing services at different churches that I will visit.

God help me please.

ron